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Topic: Baker's Cyst 2013 (Read 11718 times)

It has been a while since anyone has posted about Baker's cysts in this neighborhood and I wondered if anybody had had any breakthroughs lately?

I had ACL recon 11 weeks ago. Post-injury and pre-op I noticed squishiness behind my knee when I did hamstring curls while prone. I had a notion that it had something to do with my slight meniscus injury but never really discussed it with anyone. I just figured the OS would probably need to trim the meniscus a bit when he was ramming around in my knee, and in fact he did. I didn't feel any more squishiness until about 6 weeks post op, and I was NOT happy to see it come back. I saw my OS 8 weeks post op and he said it was likely a Baker's cyst. He mentioned something about chondromalacia but I didn't really get the connection. He didn't seem concerned about it and from what I've read on this forum, that's the reaction most sufferers get from their doctors. I got the impression from my OS that it would just go away on its own, but after reading here I wonder if it's the patients that go away - they get fed up with their doctors and stop asking about it

Mine really flared up today, possibly because I've been going at my flexion exercises pretty hard the last couple of days because my flexion seems to have stagnated at 130 degrees, including the addition of a kneeling one (kneel on a chair for a count of 10, relax, repeat for a total of 10). I've omitted that exercise for now, and will go back to it when the cyst calms down, but I'm still working on flexion and trying to keep moving (regular short walks throughout the day). Everything I've heard about Baker's cyst is anecdotal, without much consensus on what helps and what doesn't. My chiropractor told me that Chinese medicine would say to avoid "damp foods", which includes nearly my entire diet: avocado, bananas, peanut butter, cold raw vegetables, dairy. I don't eat wheat and have reduced my sugar intake a lot, but I can't give up all that other stuff. I'm trying to pay more attention to foods that are anti-inflammatory like ginger, cinnamon, turmeric and up my intake without going crazy on supplements. I don't want this thing to rule me!

I should add, now that I think about it, that I'm not sure it would make sense for any protocol that targets inflammation to do any good for a Baker's cyst. Why should it be regarded as inflammation, since it probably technically isn't? I doubt it has the cellular components, such as leukocytes, cytokines, prostaglandins &c.

I should add, now that I think about it, that I'm not sure it would make sense for any protocol that targets inflammation to do any good for a Baker's cyst. Why should it be regarded as inflammation, since it probably technically isn't? I doubt it has the cellular components, such as leukocytes, cytokines, prostaglandins &c.